ON ST. MALUS, HERMIT,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
SYLLOGE
from the Menæa of the Greeks and other calendars.
Maleus, hermit, in Greece. (S.)
The memory of St. Malus is illustrated from the Calendars In several Greek Calendars, which were once copied out at Milan by Papebroch and are now preserved in the royal Burgundian library at Brussels, the memory of St. Malus, Father, Hermit, and Wonderworker, is announced on the present day. Nor did Father Sirmond omit it in his manuscript collection of the commemorations of the Saints whom he knew to be venerated by the Greek Church, though their name was not known to him from the published Menologies. Among the printed Martyrologies among the Latins there comes only the Universal Martyrology of Chastelain to commemorate St. Maleus, hermit, who is venerated among the Greeks. Among the Greeks, however, he is praised with a distich in the Metrical Martyrology which Urban Gottfried Siber illustrated in the year 1727 and had printed at Leipzig; and that poem runs in these words:
Μαλὸς βραχεῖαν γῆς λιπὼν παροικίαν Πόλου κατοικεῖ τὴν μακρὰν κατοικίαν.
Leaving this lodging-place of earth, Malus now dwells in the palace of the heavens.
[2] and from the great Menæa of the Greeks. Somewhat more is supplied to us by the Menology of Matthäus Rader, collected from the great Menæa of the Greeks, which our predecessors once copied out, and which now rejoices in the shelf-mark 7883 of the Burgundian Library: On the same day (namely the 16th of October) of our holy Father Malus. Our holy Father Malus, having left his wealth and kinsfolk, living in solitary and desert places, rejoiced in fasts, vigils, and all other afflictions of the body. His countenance was always joyful and gracious, and he wrought unwonted signs by invoking the name of Christ, since he both cleansed elephantiasis (leprosy) from lepers, drove demons out of the possessed, and restored the sun to the blind. And these things indeed he did while he lived. After he departed to the Lord, an ointment fragrant with a most pleasing odour flowed from him, which, through the grace received from God, thoroughly healed every kind of disease, however troublesome. For "them that glorify me," says the Lord, "I will glorify"; to whom be glory and dominion unto all the eternities of all ages. Amen. And in Greek these words run thus in the Great Menæa: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, θοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μαλοῦ. Οὗτος ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις πατὴρ ἡμῶν Μαλὸς, καταλιπὼν πλοῦτον καὶ εὐγένειαν, ἐν ἐρήμοις καὶ ἀοικήτοις τόποις προσεκαρτέρει, νηστείαις καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις καὶ πάσαις ἄλλαις κακοπαθείαις χαίρων. ἦν δὲ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἀεὶ χαροποιόν. Θαύματα ἐξαίσια τῇ ἐπικλήσει τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐργαζόμενος, λεπροὺς καθαρίζων, δαίμονας ἀπολαύνων, τυφλοῖς τὸ βλέπος χαριζόμενος· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐποίει ἔτι ζῶν. Ἀπελθὼν δὲ πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ τῇ γῇ καταλιπὼν, εὐώδη μύρον ἀπὸ τοῦ πηγάζειν, εἰς ἴασιν καὶ ἀποτροπὴν παντὸς ἐναντίου συναρτήματος καὶ νοσημάτων ἀνηκέστων ἐκ Θεοῦ χάριν εἴληφε. Τοὺς γὰρ δοξάζοντάς με, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, δοξάσω, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος.
More about this Saint, which might illustrate his homeland, his age, and the place and manner of his solitary life, it has not been our lot to find: wherefore it was necessary for us to omit in the title those things which are commonly stated in brief about the Saints.